Archive for November, 2008

Microsoft Warns of New Windows Worm

Microsoft is warning consumers that a bug patched by the out-of-cycle patch a little over a month ago is being exploited in a new worm that’s seeing a recent surge. The vulnerability lies in the Windows Server service that runs on all Windows machines that allows the OS to connect to shares over the network. The worm has been named ‘Conficker.a’ by Microsoft and ‘Downadup’ by Symantec. According to Ziv Mador, a security researcher and Technet Blogger, the worm “mostly spreads within corporations but also was reported by several hundred home users”. Once the worm infects a machine, it will spread itself across the network to other un-patched systems that it finds. If you haven’t been keeping up with your Windows updates, now’s a good time to start.

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Filed under News : Comments (0) : Nov 30th, 2008

Novell/SCO Case Finally Put to Rest

The lawsuit between Novell and SCO over the ownership of UNIX has finally been settled. A judgement was ruled in mid-July that SCO owed Novell $2.5 million and the final judgment was handed down today holding that ruling and adds interest. SCO sold licenses to Sun and Microsoft for the UNIX code that, as it would turn out, Novell actually owns. They then proceeded to go after some of the larger Linux vendors and customers such as Red Hat, IBM, DaimlerChrysler, and AutoZone claiming that Linux was just a copy of UNIX. The federal court ruled that SCO owes Novell not only the $2.5 million, but also $918,000 in interest and $489 per day from August 29 to November 20. SCO is in the midst of filing for bandruptcy already and will not be able to pay Novell in full at the moment.

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Filed under News : Comments (1) : Nov 24th, 2008

Google Pulls a Microsoft

Several PC vendors have come forth and stated to Google that they want Google’s Chrome to ship pre-insatlled on their PCs. Dell, HP, Acer, and Toshiba have all said they would rather be shipping PCs with Chrome as the default browser rather than Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. IE has become the most-used browser on the web consuming about 70% of all users on the web after Microsoft started shipping it with Windows in the mid 90’s as the default browser. Microsoft has been at odds with OEMs over the last couple of years blaming them for the failures of Vista. As Mac sales surge, OEMs have to be looking in other directions for some help in losing the public perception that PCs are less secure and less reliable. The argument really lies in OS X vs. Windows, but both companies have gone by the terms “Mac vs. PCs”. Chrome is expected to be out of beta early next year and Google plans on pushing their product to try to take over IE as the dominant browser. Microsoft has been setting their sites on Google to take down their dominance as in the search market and it seems Google is trying to turn things around on Microsoft. Consumers tend to use the default browser with default settings that ship with the computer. Given that Chrome will come with Google as the default search provider, it will continue to dominate the market as well as hopefully gain a stronghold in the browser market as well.

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Filed under News : Comments (0) : Nov 22nd, 2008

iPhone 2.2 Firmware Released

Apple has released its 2.2 version of the firmware for its iPhone and iPod Touch. The iPhone has been hit hard over the past few months over some security issues and this release addresses several of them including: emergency calls not being restricted to actual emergency numbers, SMS messages can be revealed before unlocking the device, VPN encryption too low, browser vulnerabilities, and malicious Excel files being able to execute arbitrary code. The update is made available to iPhone and iPod Touch users via iTunes.

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Filed under News : Comments (0) : Nov 21st, 2008

Apple’s OS/Hardware Bundle Pays Off

A study performed by VocaLabs has shown that overall satisfaction with Apple’s support is rated higher than rivals Dell, Gateway, HP, and Toshiba. The survey is conducted at the end of a conversation between an end user and tech support at each company. Company, call, and agent satisfaction were highest for Apple over other PC manufacturers except for company satisfaction which was a tie with Toshiba. Should this really surprise us? Courtesy shouldn’t really affect this, but the Apple model of hardware and software is much simpler. The hardware and OS were built by Apple which makes it much easier to predict what kind of hardware and software configurations the user is in, thus creating less confusion between support technicians and end users. One of the advantages with going the PC route is that you can use a lot more hardware within your PC which can make for awkward situations with tech support people. Variables like wireless managers and anti-viruses really make it difficult for tech support staff to predict what the end user sees on his or her computer so of course it will lower satisfaction when it’s harder to communicate.

I’ve had the same experience with Apple support vs PC support staff. I’ve only had to call the actual Apple support line once but have worked with local Apple repair shops who interface with Apple for me on other occasions. When I went to get my hard drive replaced in my MacBook about a month ago they even replaced the top cover on my case for me because it was cracking. I didn’t even ask! They just offered to do it. I can counter that with a really bad experience with a PC manufacturer. One time I was working on trying to get a Lenovo desktop to use a second video card alongside the built-in one. I finally got desperate and called the Lenovo support line. After spending 20 minutes waiting on the line they told me that it wasn’t a supported configuration. I knew the video card worked because I had tested it in another system but they said it wasn’t supported and basically hung up the phone. Wow, what service. Okay, I’ll stop my ranting now :)

What’s very interesting about the results is that customer loyalty to both Apple and Dell are the same: 70%. While I’m not sure exactly how these terms are defined, I think there’s an interesting statistic here. The survey suggests that 52% of customers are satisfied with Apple as a company, yet they have a 70% customer loyalty rating. The same goes for Dell. They are showing as a 45% overall company satisfaction yet their loyalty is 70%. I’m not quite sure what this could suggest. It could mean one of two things: that people were trying to make cool designs in the bubbles when filling out the survey (Yes, it’s a phone survey. Yes, I’m kidding) or consumers are not satisfied but keep coming back for more. An interesting human trait, indeed. I’m sure it has something to do with the fact that humans are never satisfied but I thought it was worth noting. At any rate, Microsoft’s separation of hardware and software policy seems to be catching up with them. Of course, you are sacrificing some level of freedom when using a platform such as OS X since it can’t be run on anything besides Apple hardware (according to the EULA at least). However, end users seem to lean towards solutions that “just work” rather than caring about the ability to pick exactly what chipset and processor they are using. Of course there will always be those few (I count myself among them) but the consumer market seems to be swinging in the opposite direction. Like everything, it will most likely swing back in a few years but that seems to be the trend for the moment.

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Filed under News, Tech Trends : Comments (0) : Nov 20th, 2008

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